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US to work on reducing controls on exports to India

The US has identified Indian companies dealing in aerospace, semiconductor manufacturing and IT that would be exempted from American export controls.

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WASHINGTON: The Bush administration has identified Indian companies dealing in aerospace, semiconductor manufacturing and IT that would be exempted from American export controls in view of their non-proliferation records.

Washington has identified these companies that will be eligible for the US Trusted Customer Programme, which streamlines licensing for companies with good records of compliance with non-proliferation treaties, Assistant Secretary of Commerce Christopher Padilla said.

His comments came ahead of the meeting of the US-India High Technology Cooperation Group (HTCG) later on Thursday.

"We will be discussing in the next couple of days how to implement President Bush's commitment from March of last year to make this programme available to customers in India. I look forward to talking with my Indian counterparts about the number of companies we have identified as potential candidates for this programme."

"And these are firms operating on a number of sectors in India including semiconductors manufacturing, aerospace, and the chemical industry," Padilla said.

The official would not identify the potential candidates from India.

"We believe that the Trusted Customer Programme offers the opportunity to continue the trend in streamlining and focusing our export controls with our friends in India," he added.

Since the Trusted Customer programme was put in place in November 2002, India has had far greater access to US technology as Washington has changed export controls on a number of dual use items, he observed.

On sanctions, the senior official said there will be a discussion on the existing ones. 'There is not much left' in the sanctions regime, the official remarked.

"One of the things that the HTCG has sought to address is that there continues to be a perception in India, particularly among Indian business that sanctions continue to limit our high tech exports to India. In fact very few US exports to India require licenses any longer," Padilla said pointing out that the numbers have come down from as high as 24 per cent in the aftermath of the 1998 nuclear tests to less than one per cent today.

The two countries will also discuss how to improve upon the NSSP, or the Next Steps in the Strategic Partnership in how India is treated in export control regulations.

"Our Indian colleagues have done a review of the regulations, and how India is treated in those and we want to take a look to make sure that there are not vestiges of the past in some of our regulations," Padilla said.

The senior official during the interactive session explained that one of the vestiges of the Cold War controls had to do with issues of 'regional stability,' as for instance of Heavy Trucks that could be used for moving military equipment.

 

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